Skipper O’Brien is a major injury doubt for Down clash

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary selector Declan Browne lamented another game of ill-luck as his side left Navan with nothing from Saturday’s Tailteann Cup opener.

“It’s disappointing again,” admitted the former 2-time All-Star.

“We did fairly okay in the first half, did as well as we expected against the wind but just fell apart again, conceded 1-3 at the start of the second half. We missed a goal chance, but the game was probably over at that stage.

“Certain periods of games are leaving us down. I thought we were great in the first half and were happy enough at half time, but Meath got a run on us and fell away.”

Tipperary enjoyed a lot of possession but were very cautious in how they used it, and they had little penetration when they got into the Meath half, unable to put pace on their attacks, leaving them with no option but route one.

“With the two Stephen’s inside (Quirke and O’Brien) Meath were going to set-up so it wasn’t going to be easy to kick it in,” Browne explained.

“It is easy to say, kick it in, but there has to be some bit of accuracy on it as well, you can’t just lump it in. Meath had their home-work done well on that.

“Maybe lads got frustrated and started doing a few things. We got a few good scores at the end, but we also missed a few scores and hopefully they won’t come back to bite us with score difference.

“It is disappointing. We put ourselves in a good position. The wind doesn’t do much for you, but we put ourselves in a good position where not many people would have felt we would be at half time but that ten minute spell after half time killed us.”

The injury jinx which has impacted the squad this year struck again with captain Steven O’Brien forced off with a combination of hand and shoulder injuries and is rated as doubtful, along with Cathal Deely, for next Sunday’s game with Down in Thurles

“When things go against is they go against us,” Browne added.

“Obviously, Steven going off, we can’t afford to lose Steven O’Brien. I know was struggling away and when lads see him ging off the heads go down as well.”

He added: “It will give other lads an opportunity, so we just have to get back on the horse for Down next Sunday (1.45pm).

“This is the competition that was made for ourselves. But you would still like to be playing some bit well and getting a win under the belt and then moving forward. You don’t want to be depending on narrow losses and hoping to win the last game. It never comes easy for us against Waterford either so there are no guarantees.”

Down defeated Waterford in their round one opener last Saturday and will come to Semple Stadium for the second time this year after coming away from Thurles with both points in the National League opener last January. And Declan Browne is hoping that with the game being played alongside the Tipperary senior hurlers Munster championship clash with Limerick, will allow the players to feed off the extra support and generate a better performance.

“That will be a big occasion in itself,” Browne added.

“We had a good tussle with Down in the first game of the league so hopefully we will learn something from that and build to try and get something. We have nothing to lose so we have to go for it.”

“But we just need to get back to the drawing board on Wednesday night and see how the injuries are. The lads are brilliant, they come back every week despite it not being easy and we’ll do it again and who knows what will happen on Sunday.”